5 Tools to Promote your Business on Instagram

Instagram is currently one of the top social platforms for engagement. You have the opportunity to communicate with your target audience with pictures, videos, and stories that appeal to them.

Why is it important to add Instagram to your marketing mix?

There are more than 800 million Instagram accounts worldwide. 80% of accounts follow a business on Instagram. There is an excellent opportunity for you to engage with your target audience on that platform. To do so, you have to set up your Instagram business profile for success, making sure that you don't leave the primary fields empty:

Add a photo of your business.

Add a description.

Provide your website address.

Add your contact information.

Select one or two hashtags for your business and add those to your profile.

Turn your Instagram profile into a magnet for followers

Don't think that by just posting appealing content, your number of followers will grow. You must have a strategy in place. It's vital that you consider the following when starting to define the Instagram marketing strategy for your business:

Location: Target people based in specific areas like zip code, cities or state

Demographics: Narrow your audience based on information like age, gender, and languages

Interests: Reach people based on interests like apps they use, ads they click and accounts they follow

Behaviors: Define your audience by activities they do on and off of Instagram and Facebook

Custom Audiences: Connect with customers you already know based on their e-mail addresses or phone numbers

With a game plan in place, you will post content that will resonate with your target audience. They will be more motivated to engage with your business.

Remember some do's and don'ts on Instagram when posting content

Do's

Use your profile to promote your business

Engage with your audience

Post on a consistent basis

Engage with other business profiles

Brand your profile

Schedule your content

Use relevant hashtags

Track your metrics

Promote user-generated content

Don’ts

Don’t buy followers

Don’t post irrelevant content

Don’t over-post

Don’t forget to post

Don’t overdo hashtags

Don’t neglect quality

Don’t over promote products/ services

Don’t steal photos

Don’t leave your profile empty

Don’t focus on total number of followers

Five tools to consider to help you promote your business on Instagram

INK361: It provides insights for marketers, analysts and brand leaders to grow and engage with their audience on Instagram. You can see how effectively your brand is engaging on Instagram, understand what drives engagement and growth, and monitor and compare competitors. Learn more at https://ink361.com.

Crowdfire: It helps you discover and schedule content, and manage all your social accounts from one place. Follow the right people, unfollow inactive accounts, engage with your fans and followers, and keep an eye out on your competitors' followers. Automatically discover articles and images your audience will love, so you can share them via Instagram and keep your timelines buzzing! Learn more at https://www.crowdfireapp.com.

Iconosquare: Leverage industry-leading analytics and tools to grow your business on Instagram. Measure your community growth and visualize your daily gained and lost followers. Discover when your audience is online to boost your posts' visibility. Search for media with specific hashtags and narrow your search with advanced filters. Learn more at https://pro.iconosquare.com.

A Color Story: This is a photo app used by millions across the globe to make fresh, colorful photos. Instead of filtering your photos to look all the same, A Color Story filters aim to enhance the color you’ve chosen in your composition: bright whites, vibrant color, and clean adjustments. Add, rotate and drag a photo effect to the perfect position. These light leaks, flares, and color fogs use multiple layers and blend modes to become truly part of your photo. Learn more at https://acolorstory.com.

Wordswag: Create beautifully custom text layouts that would typically take minutes – or even hours – with just a tap. Learn more at http://wordswag.co/.

There you go: a good set of tools to think about to help you boost your Instagram marketing strategy. Don't forget to use hashtags to expand your reach. Remember that your hashtags can be campaign specific or general – all that’s important is that they are relevant to your business.

Social media marketing may be overwhelming to some business owners and professionals, so don't try to get active in all the platforms at once. Choose the top two for your business and commit to staying active on them. Define some key metrics that can help you to measure your performance. If you see progress, you will be motivated to keep creating and posting content.

Entrepreneurship is not easy, but thanks to the Internet, we are equipped to increase our success in the marketplace.

The information included on this website is designed for informational purposes only. It is not legal, tax, financial, or any other sort of advice; nor is it a substitute for such advice. The information on this site may not apply to your specific situation. We have tried to make sure the information is accurate, but it could be outdated or even inaccurate, in parts. It is the reader's responsibility to comply with any applicable local, state, or federal regulations, and to make their own decisions about how to operate their business. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, its affiliates, and their employees make no warranties about the information, no guarantee of results, and assume no liability in connection with the information provided.

The information included on this website is designed for informational purposes only. It is not legal, tax, financial, or any other sort of advice; nor is it a substitute for such advice. The information on this site may not apply to your specific situation. We have tried to make sure the information is accurate, but it could be outdated or even inaccurate, in parts. It is the reader's responsibility to comply with any applicable local, state, or federal regulations, and to make their own decisions about how to operate their business. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, its affiliates, and their employees make no warranties about the information, no guarantee of results, and assume no liability in connection with the information provided.